Symbiosis
by Tigressa101
Summary: Optimus and his team are finding Tigressa has grown restless since their last encounter. Now she has sent her brothers and sisters after the Cybertronians, but all of them have a secret that may be just what Optimus needs to bring the tiger-dragon down. [Again, like Among the Gods, this story wasn't my best work. And like the former story, it sort of made a cliffhanger.]
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1: New Enemies

* * *

Her tail wrapped around a pile of gold and lifted it, only to watch as it fell back down piece by piece. The gold was a reminder of how foolish humans used to challenge her in grey metal uniforms for the worthless money and any maidens she happened to steal for a snack.

Back then, it amused her to no end, but as technology finally grew on the floating rock, it forced her to reconsider the enemy weapons she was going up against. Bows and arrows, swords, and spears soon became guns, bombs, and tanks.

The world was growing, both in technology and population, and to be honest, it was secluding her from the outside. No longer could she simply walk out of the underground basin without getting spotted; hell, ever since the retched Cybertronians came, her warriors held their lives in the hands preparing for the inevitable outcome.

Tigressa sighed as she rested on her throne. It wasn't made of the polished yellow substance as the coins and objects throughout the room, but she liked it nonetheless.

"My Mistress," Captain Silos coughed, "I have brought them back from Cybertron, as you requested."

He bowed as several shadowed figures closed in towards both of them until they were under a few bands of moonlight, revealing their tired faceplates.

Each one gave Tigressa a unique look; they didn't seem too thrilled to be among her presence again. Six younger bots sat on mounds of gold, waiting for their leader's commands.

"My brothers, sisters," Tigressa purred, "I am glad to see you all functioning still though I must say, what I expect from you is only your participation in a new 'game' of mine."

Her siblings muttered amongst themselves while the captain still had his attention set on the tiger-dragon.

"This game will be more like a 'seek and destroy' type deal. I want each of you to find and kill any Cybertronian that gets in your way, but I want their human pets to be brought directly to me," Tigressa hissed while her tail curled in response, "Do you understand!?"

All members nodded while some did it with very little enthusiasm. Blossom and Firefox, the furthest from Tigressa, gave each other concerned expressions for their eldest sister's sanity.

Tigressa grinned, "Very well then, you may start now. Oh and search far and wide. I don't want any country skipped, but I have a hunch that the 'United States of America' may be a great start."

Some began to partner up as others decided to go solo. They transformed into their techno-organic forms and immediately crawled on the ceiling and exited the area using the holes in which the moonlight seeped in.

The tiger-dragon chuckled slightly which caught the Metal rhino's audience once again.

"Those pathetic, inferior robots will perish even if I have to twist this small planet inside out!"

* * *

"Several energy spikes have been detected, Optimus! Some have reached a few continents by what appears to be flight, the others never left Europe," Ratchet articulated.

Optimus moved towards the monitor. Indeed there were many markers residing on four continents, but some appeared to be circling an area like a vulture.

"Ratchet, contact the Decepticons and send them the coordinates to our enemies' positions. Ready the ground bridge for transport. I'll assemble our comrades for departure."

* * *

The Nemesis orbited around the Earth as it followed a military satellite. It nudged the device away as it passed by.

Soundwave busied himself keeping an eye out for any Metal Head reports from the ground squadrons below. He quickly turned his attention to his leader, who was flirting with Arcee. If he could roll his eyes, he would have.

It had been a month and a half since the incident with the tiger-dragon, and Megatron began a relationship with the two-wheeler soon after. He treated her like a queen plus he even gave her full run of the joint as well as unlimited privileges.

Soundwave's monitor suddenly lit up with Ratchet's picture, "Outpost Omega One to Decepticon Warship, we have received several new energy signatures that are unknown to us. We are dispatching our soldiers to the designated areas as we speak. We suggest you do the same."

"Alright…Commander, we…acknowledge…your request," the tall mech replied with different radio stations.

"Good! While you have Arcee up there, can you bridge her to the Central African energy signature? She's probably going to take her love-sick 'boyfriend' with her so don't send anyone else to that coordinate pair."

"Aye aye, Cap'n!"

Soundwave signaled his master and gave him the coordinates he and Arcee were requested to go. He them alerted the others of their new destinations.

Every bot that was given an area to check on appeared before the command center ready for their new adventure on Earth.

Breakdown and Dreadwing were assigned to North America and both seemed less than excited about it. Knockout and a group of ground Vehicons had the Russian zone while Soundwave and Starscream took the Australian section.

Shockwave and Predaking were the only two mechs that could only stand each other so they were given the European district.

Each group left the warship and all moaned in disappointment when they saw the region they had to scout.

* * *

Optimus jumped out of his bridge and charged his guns up. The energy spike seemed to hover right in front of him.

He checked his monitor and scanned the area. Only grass was visible and the object described on his personal screen was not.

Right as he put his guns away and turned back to contact Ratchet, the energy signature moved and was coming straight for him. He turned back but still was blinded to what he was supposed to see.

The monitor beeped loudly and sped up as the unidentified thing stalked towards him. He watched the grass shake as gusts of wind clashed with his armor.

Suddenly, he felt something crack as the force of unexplainable magnitude pushed him off his feet. He fell on his back and rolled back to a standing position.

Optimus put a hand to his chest and noticed Energon oozing from a deep incision across his windshields. A low groan rumbled out as he peered around him for anybody or anything that could have done something like that.

"Hurts, don't it?" A voice spoke with a dark tone.

The Autobot leader frantically looked over his shoulder for the voice's origin but found nothing. He felt himself slipping into unconsciousness, but he resisted.

Finally, two pedes stomped down in front of him and they were visible now. A mech similar to the one they saw attack the warship a few months ago stood before Optimus, but he had a purple and black color scheme with the same designs.

"You came without reinforcements, huh? Not the wisest thing to do with Tigressa and her abominable army lurking about," the dragon said as he traced the wound's details with his mind.

"W-why are you serving Tigressa? What does she plan on doing?" Optimus stuttered as he held his punctured armor in place.

"I have no choice. Tigressa will destroy us if we don't and trust me, I would accept death any day, but I swore to protect the six younglings of our atrocious family. In order to do that however, I have to be alive."

Optimus gave him an unusual look even he did not recognize.

"As for her plans, all I truly know is that once your kind is no more, she'll take back the world that was lost to her. Here, let me help you," the dragon sighed.

He rubbed his hands together and placed them on the gash. The wound began to shrink and release a dark blue hue of light. Before the leader's own eyes, the incision had vanished, but a ball of an unknown substance now resided in the palm of the dragon's claws.

"Why did you help me when your directive was to kill me?" Optimus questioned with a sigh of relief.

"Tigressa is wrong, and I want to prevent her from succeeding as do all the rest of us. The problem is that we can't do anything but make sure the one species capable of killing our eldest sister is alive and well," the dragon muttered.

He threw the substance away from them and sat on the cool meadow. His tail patted the ground once in a while which meant he was calm.

Optimus hesitated to start a conversation, but finally gave in, "By the way, what is your name?"

The dragon spread his clawed toes apart and connected them again and again before responding, "Oh, my name is Ghost. I am the tenth child in our family and the fifth brother of Tigressa. Of course as you have witnessed, I can make myself invisible plus I control and protect the spirits of the dead."

"Wait, wait, YOU…control the dead like if you wanted to and you could resurrect anybody you wanted?" Optimus said with his eyes widened with fascination.

"W-well yes, I can but I rarely do it. I have access to both Heaven on Earth and the Well of Allsparks on Cybertron. I mean, I can open a portal and pull out a spirit, but I would be the only one who could hear that said spirit," Ghost smirked.

Optimus just stared at him in shock, not knowing what to say or even do.

"Yeah…all sixteen of us have our unique abilities that actually correspond with elements found here on Earth and mine is the power to control and revive the dead. It's not as great as it sounds; hanging out with deceased people isn't really fun but the stories on how they died never cease to amaze me."

The Autobot leader seemed speechless, "I…um…I don't know what to say really. So all of you control an element and I suppose Tigressa's element is fire?"

"Actually no, her element is darkness which creeps me out to no end," Ghost paused as he revealed a device from his arm, "Ah shit…uh…I have to go. Apparently, one of my sisters returned to my demonic sibling and pissed her off. She's ordering us to come back."

Optimus nodded, "I should probably report back to Ratchet with the information you have given me. Thank you."

Ghost smiled, "Welcome, oh and make sure if you ever encounter Tigressa again, don't mention that I helped you. She would flip out and I really don't want to deal with her at all."

"I shall not tell her a thing, I promise," Optimus returned a smile and watched as Ghost transformed into a dragon and flew off.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2: Roses, Lightning, and Magic

* * *

South America wasn't the Wreckers' most favorite regions, specifically because of its dense jungle and its rural population. Nonetheless, they agreed to go despite Wheeljack complaining about why he couldn't go to Russia.

Bulkhead peered above him at the canopy which had many birds layering the branches. Just by looking up he felt dizzy. Something told him they were not alone, and that gut feeling was right.

A low roar echoed through the trees which made Bulkhead jump slightly.

Ultra Magnus sneered at the sound and urged his team forward. In the corner of his eye, he thought he saw movement and prepared his guns.

Wheeljack juggled his grenade warily as his commander stalked the jungle floor. He rolled his eyes at his best friend who flinched at every crack made from his large pedes.

Suddenly, Bulkhead let out a scream which caught the attention of the others and was lifted off the ground by a dozen vines.

"Get 'em off! Get me down!" The green mech shouted.

Before Wheeljack could conjure up his swords, he too found himself dangling among the thick vines. He struggled until a voice hissed in his ear.

"Wheeljack!" The voice hissed in a ghost-like tone. As it said the Wrecker's name, the vines and trees around them began to rattle as if wind had flown through the large plants in order to get to them.

"Wheeljack!" It slithered again, but this time it seemed closer than before.

The white Wrecker froze as he felt someone's breath on his neck cables. The sound of something slimy opening made him curl in fear.

Finally, the breathing stopped and the noise of ooze breaking apart ceased. Wheeljack turned to see green optics glaring down on him. His spark pounded as he tried to spot his commander, only to find him trapped on a tree with a type of sticky green substance covering his body.

He looked back up to the monster before him and saw the same substance dripping from its jaws. "Oh scrap!"

The beast zeroed in on his head before pausing with his ears twitching.

"Poltergeist!" A feminine voice yelled in the distance. The mech responded by standing straight up again, facing the direction of the new voice.

"Poltergeist, what are you doing to these poor bots!" The femme asked, stomping her foot impatiently.

The dragon showed a guilty expression while Bulkhead stared at the girl in awe, "I-I was going to…um…destroy them just like Tigressa requested!"

"Put them down now!" The femme ordered.

Poltergeist hesitated until her eyes turned into one shade of green with no pupil visible, "I said, PUT. THEM. DOWN. NOW!"

As she yelled the last word, her arms were raised and several trees wrapped themselves around the dragon. They secured him tightly before awaiting their master's requests.

Suddenly, Bulkhead, Wheeljack, and Ultra Magnus found themselves completely on the ground once again. The vines had retreated back to the canopy above while the sticky green stuff evaporated into thin air.

While Poltergeist thrashed in the trees' grasp, the femme picked up Wheeljack's grenade and held it out for him to retrieve.

"I'm sorry about my brother; he takes Tigressa's orders way to seriously," the femme smirked, "I'm Blossom, by the way!"

"Uh…hello Blossom, I'm…" Wheeljack stuttered only to be interrupted by her.

"I know who you are. Wheeljack, Bulkhead, and Ultra Magnus: the Wreckers of Cybertron."

"Hey, how do you know who we are?" Bulkhead questioned.

Blossom stroked a missing limb on a tree nearby and watched as the branch grew back to its original length. "Simple, I was on Cybertron when the war was ravishing all those innocent lives and I remember seeing you three before you went your separate ways. You were quite famous."

Ultra Magnus marveled at what she just did and asked, "How did you do that? How did you fix the broken limb?"

Blossom merely smiled, "Oh, I control the plants that grow here. I'm also able to connect with other plants on other planets as well. One of my favorite planets on the other side of this galaxy has a wide variety of blue and purple colored plants; it's the planet's color scheme. The color scheme on Earth is based with green and orange ones."

"Wow, so little lady, would you mind telling us why Tigressa sent you?" Wheeljack retaliated.

"Tigressa expects us to kill you but that is against my beliefs. Poltergeist, on the other hand, doesn't really follow our point of view, but he does want to get rid of our older sister more than anything just like us. Oh and he also controls the plant life with wood being more of his specialty."

Ultra Magnus nodded, "Well this information will help us defeat Tigressa, thank you for your help."

Blossom giggled, "No problem, but make sure you don't spill our secrets to the Metal Heads. Those big bullies always rat us out when they get even the slightest hint of a clue to what we're planning.

"Anyway, I'll see you boys soon. Tigressa is calling us back; Firefox has ticked her off again. Bye-bye!"

Blossom unraveled her brother from the trees and ordered him to take flight. He scowled at her but obeyed and transformed into his dragon form.

The femme waved as her brother flew above the canopy and over the jungles.

* * *

Starscream found it hard to navigate through the storm as rain poured down like a shower of bullets. Surprisingly, the rain seemed to hurt as it patted his metal roughly, but Soundwave ignored the feeling.

Lightning ruptured through the clouds like a knife through butter. Starscream swore every time it came close to him almost as if it was targeting him.

Suddenly, Soundwave transformed and hovered as his monitor revealed the energy signature they were sent to find. He didn't react as lightning finally hit him and sent his burnt body down to the cliffs below.

Starscream growled as he spotted a figure pointing at him which seemed to command the lightning to strike. As another bolt sprang towards him, he fired a missile at the figure, which dodged it with ease.

The seeker smirked as he watched the glow of the rocket reappear and hit its intended target. The figure was lowered to his line of sight in which he gave a small gasp.

The figure was a femme with black spots and yellow highlights allover her body. She roared with anger and shot two more bolts of lightning at the seeker.

Before she could fire again, dark purple tentacles swarmed around her arms and forced them together as well as her legs.

Soundwave floated into view, coiling his appendages tighter around her. She hissed as both mechs came closer.

"Well, an electric-powered femme. Tell me, you wrench, who are you and why are you here?" Starscream yelled.

The femme chuckled, "I'm ElectroHyena and I am here to hunt you. I want to rip open your chest and feast on your spark!"

The seeker grimaced at the last sentence, "You were sent by Tigressa, weren't you? Well you can tell her that you failed."

With that Soundwave threw her away from him, only to watch as she flew back towards them. His visor began to set coordinates to the arctic and opened a bridge right as she came within five feet of the mech.

The portal closed and the femme no longer was there. The storm calmed down as rays of sunlight rippled through the dark clouds.

Starscream gave a small sigh of relief towards his partner who nodded in return.

* * *

Knockout ducked behind an Old Russian factory as blasts of purple hit the side of the building. He cursed as he watched his fellow Vehicons get zapped into various cyber-animals that resembled Earth-based creatures.

One Vehicon was transformed into a metal Tyrannosaurus Rex and freaked out because of the lack of arm movement he was capable of doing in his normal form. Another was forced into becoming a shark which made him incapable of moving at all since the creature he represented needed water to thrive.

The red mech mumbled to himself until he heard cackling above him. He peered up to see the evil witch, Kalypso, hovering on a semitransparent, glowing platform.

He squealed like a girl and climbed on top of the Vehicon Rex that had laid to rest after a few minutes checking out in his new form. Knockout shouted a catchphrase that humans used while riding horses and rode the metal dinosaur away from the witch.

His plan worked for a few seconds before the Vehicon was transformed into a cyber-bull which instantly bucked the red mech off of him. He left the medic lying on the ground in fear as Kalypso came closer.

"No! Please don't hurt me…or my finish!" Knockout said as he cowered on the semi-snowy tundra.

Kalypso merely raised a brow, "Why should I harm you when the object of my desire to harm is the one ordering me to kill you?"

The medic stopped shivering and gave her a confused look, "So you don't really want to harm any of us, like you don't want to even help us?"

"Not entirely. But I will tell you this, Tigressa wants to take this world back from the humans and kill off any remaining Cybertronians because she fears you. With your kind still up and running, you pose a threat to her. She was never able to face any of you head on because Cybertronians united are capable of bringing her and her army down.

"Cybertron had an invisible shield protecting it from any Metal Heads, and Tigressa knew going on Cybertron alone would cease her leadership of all creatures in the five major galaxies of the Serpent Sector. If your kind successfully stays alive and manages to end her reign of terror, we'll be free and be able to create new worlds again."

Knockout sat upright with his legs crossed, "So we can defeat her?"

Kalypso nodded, "Yes, but only by working together will you actually achieve this. Be sure to inform Optimus Prime about my moral. Trust me, it will help you."

Before the medic's own eyes, Kalypso vanished in a gust of wind. He turned his attention to the Vehicon Predacons and viewed their return to their original forms. It was like magic; she must have had the ability of magic.

Knockout forced a smirk upon his face, "Magic, huh?"


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3: Kilimanjaro and Europe in Winter

* * *

"Come on, Bigfoot. The longer we stay here, the more I feel like I'm melting," Arcee grimaced as she stepped over the dry plains' brush.

The Savannah was scorching hot with its animals fighting for shade provided by the umbrella-like trees which attracted giraffes. In the distance, the famous African volcano, Kilimanjaro, stood its ground with an imposing height of great magnitude.

Megatron liked Africa; for once, he enjoyed seeing a peaceful, beautiful background on Earth. With the intimidating mountain and the calm animals roaming about, it made him feel like he was on Cybertron before the war, despite the fact that he couldn't talk to any of the creatures like he could with actual Cybertronians.

The scanner began to sound off with two unusual energy signatures. Both bots prepared themselves but hesitated to fire as a foxlike femme appeared with a black and orange dragon-like mech.

Arcee gave a confused look as the fox waved at her. She watched the dragon put the femme's hand down and scold her. The femme's only response was to run straight towards Megatron.

The warlord became startled as the fox jumped onto his shoulder and rested her hands on his helm with her feet clawing his armor to keep from slipping. The femme looked like a monkey perched on a silver, spiked rock.

"Arcee, could you get her off me please. This feels very uncomfortable," Megatron groaned as he felt her claws next to his spine. He shuddered weirdly when the talons finally scrapped over a few sensors.

"I'm terribly sorry," the dragon spoke, "Firefox is…um…partially mentally incapacitated. She doesn't know right from wrong really."

He reached towards the fox as Megatron placed one knee on the ground in the hopes that she would get off. The dragon had one hand go under the femme while the other went around her hips and hoisted the delusional fox from the warmonger who whispered something inaudible.

Firefox suddenly sneezed and the thin grass around the techno-organics quickly caught fire.

"Whoa, okay I think you need to go back home," the dragon yelled as he tried to keep his grip on the femme who had her tongue out with a smile as she watched the flames increase.

The dragon went through the fire and placed Firefox down. He rubbed his claws together and set them on the ground in front of the blaze.

To Megatron's amazement, the flames were soon changing direction and heading for the dragon like piranhas to blood. The fire crept into his palms and finally vanished from their view. An unusual blacked design seemed to greet their eyes which to them looked something like a symbol from the texts of the original thirteen Primes.

"I'm assuming you and your…uh," Megatron peered down at the giggling form next to him who was swinging her tail happily, "'friend' have the power to control fire, or at least one of you does. The other just creates it."

"Yeah, by the way I'm Entity and that's my twin, Firefox," Entity proclaimed, still staring at the burnt symbol.

"So why are you two out here?" Arcee asked while trying to keep Firefox from getting to close.

Entity's smile faded, "Well, we were here to distract and possibly kill you, but Tigressa still hasn't realized that both of us aren't really capable of hurting anything, well I can't. Firefox will only harm others if the person she's commanded by treats her nicely. Tigressa's far from that."

Arcee raised a brow, "Could you tell us where she is?"

"Um…if I did, you would have to pretend to find out another way or else Tigressa would murder us. Promise us, you'll take this information and hold off for about a week because if you were to come less than a week, she would get suspicious and boom, we're meat."

Megatron and Arcee glanced at each other for a second before nodding back.

"The base is in a cave under a white and red abandoned lighthouse near the shore. It's on the closest end towards Great Britain. With a great tracker, you'll be able to spot several Metal Heads swimming to and from that location. Trust me, it's a lot easier to find then you think."

Megatron gave a ghoulish smirk as Entity returned the gesture. The dragon signaled to his twin to follow who waved back towards the two bots frantically.

Entity turned around after a while and grabbed her to hurry back to base where he knew Tigressa was in a crappy mood. He paused for a second after something gleaming in the shadows caught his eye. He hissed slightly but saw nothing and continued back to where the portal still stood.

He cursed inwardly because he forgot to shut it off and leaped into it, only to find a pissed off Tigressa standing in front of him.

"T-Tigressa, I can explain!" He stuttered hoping that she didn't find out already about his conversation with the two Cybertronians.

"Oh I know you can, but I want the truth!" She growled. He winced, waiting for the scolding of his betrayal to come.

Tigressa roared angrily, "Why did you leave the portal open? You could have leaded the Cybertronians here, which would have set back our plans another month and a half. Next time, make sure the portal is closed or else I'll be forced to punish you!"

Entity nodded quickly while Firefox just stared at the tiger-dragon with her head tilted to the side.

Tigressa mumbled something as she returned to her throne with her face placed in her palm.

* * *

Winter in Europe lasted forever it seemed. Bumblebee slid slightly back as the wind pushed against his chest. He glanced back to see Smokescreen and Shockwave who weren't having any luck either.

Two hours ago, the weather was sunny although cold at the same time; in less than five minutes, the sun was covered with dark clouds and the brutal snow storm began to brawl with the bots like it didn't want them to reach their objective.

Predaking was having no luck in beast form and decided to stay grounded since the wind almost blew him to the other side of the country.

Bumblebee peered up with frosted optics to see a small figure standing in the snowbound blizzard. It couldn't have been bigger than him.

"Hey, who's there? We need some assistance here!" The yellow mech shouted.

The figure didn't move and watched the four mechs struggle against the wind. Suddenly, it revealed its wings and clapped them together.

Bumblebee paused before realizing the wind and the snow had stopped. Everything became clear once again; the sun was close to the horizon now, slowly submerging itself towards the other side of the planet.

The figure was more visible now. Smokescreen immediately spoke up, "Bee, that's the dragon creep who tried to board the Nemesis a couple months ago."

"No, it can't be. He's smaller than before, plus I see another on top of that ridge. There has to be more than one," Bumblebee concluded, still locking his gaze on the little one.

The small dragon returned his gazed and slit his eyes like he was receiving a challenge. The dragon jumped down from his platform and met the yellow mech eye to eye.

Predaking growled menacingly at the new bot but Shockwave put a hand in front of him.

Bumblebee began to talk again, "Impressive, you can control ice and snow. I'm going to assume your buddy up there was the one creating the wind."

The dragon gave a soft chuckle, "Quite the detective, 'Bumblebee', but you forgot one more person."

He pointed upwards which made all fours mechs look up to see another figure skydive towards them. Before Bumblebee could comprehend what the mysterious new arrival was the guardian of, the figure crashed into the ground and shot water blasts at them.

Smokescreen coughed as he accidently swallowed some of the liquid. His eyes widened at the figure's body type: she was a femme who could control water.

"Listen girl, all we want to know is why you're here and where big, fat, and ugly is," Smokescreen replied trying to get the remaining ounces of water out of his system.

The femme smirked, "Sorry, boy, but the boss doesn't want your company any time soon."

Shockwave pondered, "And who exactly are you and your troublesome friends?"

"I am Eclipse. The icy one is Phantasmos and the weather-prone one is Spirit," Eclipse said with a smug grin still plastered onto her face.

She immediately held out her hands and laughed as the snow melted into water once again. She began throwing segments of the substance at the boys.

Each blast felt like bullets upon their metal, Predaking grew angry to the point where he finally transformed back into his beast mode and attacked the femme.

Phantasmos quickly froze his joints as the dragon tried to hit her. Soon Predaking found himself stuck with crisscrossed arms and cave in knees.

Bumblebee jumped onto the black and blue mech and attempted to subdue him, only to have Phantasmos kangaroo kick him off.

As the dragon finally found enough distance between him and his oppressor, he created an ice shield and activated the portal back to his sister's cavern. As he jumped in Eclipse followed, and Spirit blew on last gust of wind before escaping with his family.

Bumblebee staggered to his pedes with Shockwave and Smokescreen at his aid. Shockwave went straight to his beast and used the glow of his cannon to melt its bonds.

Predaking gave purred as he felt the heat tickle his armor. His fire breath seemed inaccessible, for he did not know why he couldn't free himself with it just like he did in the Arctic during the Autobots raid of Darkmount.

Bumblebee came up beside the beast and softly patted his neck, "Well now we know who's in league with that vile femme. I just hope we can find a way to defeat her and her new cronies before the fate of this world is sealed."

"Ah relax, Bee. I'm sure Optimus will come up with something. He never gives up," Smokescreen cheerily assured.

Shockwave continued to thaw out Predaking, "I don't doubt your leader's methods, but I fear that we'll need more than just his wisdom to get us through another oncoming war with forces we're not yet able to conquer."

"Rest assured, Shockwave, we'll try and we'll intend to go out with a majority of them suffering. Of course, if Tigressa isn't one of those monsters then human kind is screwed," Smokescreen added.

Bumblebee raised a brow, "Way to make us feel confident that we'll win."


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4: The Sierra Mountains and Tigressa's Anger

* * *

Dreadwing and Breakdown gripped the mountain's unstable rocks with caution. Both didn't enjoy rock climbing but in order to surprise whatever enemy came close to them, it was necessary.

Breakdown clawed at the sediment until he felt gravity increase its pull on his tired form. He slipped down a little before finding himself sitting on a rock he'd previously crawled over.

Dreadwing, however, had no trouble at all and rolled his eyes at his partner who continued to struggle up the mountain side.

"Really, Breakdown? Had you no experience with rock climbing before? Jeez, you've been on a floating rock planet for a while now and never learned to navigate on it?" He questioned, still watching a frustrated Breakdown.

Suddenly, a roar sounded above them and two clawed feet lingered over the cliff edge above them. The owner placed both hands in between his feet and peered over the rocky wall like a gargoyle perched on a cathedral.

Dreadwing recognized the individual as the monster that attacked the warship and had lost its wings since Artemis fought it. He noticed the beast had all of its limbs back with some welding marks on where the human had severed each limb.

Demon didn't seem to notice the two dangling mechs below and turned back with his tail swiping off loose rocks that missed Breakdown by a couple of inches.

The large seeker climbed to the edge and peeked up to see Demon lying on something. Breakdown followed but accidently scrapped his foot across the side. Both winced and ducked as Demon had his ears perked up towards the sound.

A low growl rumbled within him. He stomped towards them but right before he looked down, Dreadwing and his companion scooted to opposite sides and hid behind rock structures right next to the monster.

Demon hissed as he viewed nothing out of the ordinary. He raised a brow and extended with repaired wings.

Breakdown watched as the beast took flight around the mountain. He quickly sprinted for the unusual object the monster had been lying on earlier and snatched it up before motioning to Dreadwing to follow.

The seeker ran with the bruiser until a large form blocked their path. Dreadwing brought his sword out trying to cover his friend while Demon snarled at his feeble attempts to distract him from his prize.

The dragon snapped and backed off quickly as Dreadwing swung at him. He noticed the blue and silver mech getting away with the object at hand. He hit the seeker as hard as he could and made way towards the semi-frightened military SUV.

Breakdown looked back in horror and transformed into his vehicle mode only to see the dragon closer than he actually appeared to be.

The path around the mountain seemed too narrow for his alt. mode but still continued on. As he drove in what he assumed was on oval, he did the only thing he could do other than run.

"Anybody, Autobot or Decepticon, I need a ground bridge right now as well as Dreadwing who is sort of knocked out at the moment!" He screamed as Demon got closer.

Suddenly, a portal opened in front of him and he floored it. As he went through the bridge, Demon slid to halt knowing it would disappear as soon as he came close to it. Sure enough, the portal vanished and another one sounded on the other side with the trampling of several pedes.

He reopened his wings and flew around the mountain once again, only to see a group of Vehicons drag the seeker into the bridge. He roared angrily at his loss.

Demon shook his head in frustration before turning away from the Sierra towards the cavern where his twin resided.

It took a few hours but he made it to the dark mouth of the underground labyrinth. He scowled as he went inside knowing Tigressa would be furious with his failure.

"It wasn't my fault…"

"Well it had to be someone's and my ass isn't going on the line for your mistake!"

"Shut up! You know, none of us would be in this predicament if we actually killed at least one Cybertronian!"

"Gee, I wonder why we couldn't!"

Voices rang throughout the tunnel that he recognized instantly. He sighed hoping his sister was nowhere in the cavern.

Finally, he heard rustling and dog –like pain whimpers as he moved closer to the base of the underground lair. He spotted Spirit and Poltergeist trying to hurt each other as they continued to argue.

"Ah Demon, you're here. Good, could you help me get these idiots to stop fighting?" Ghost mumbled as he pushed the green and black dragon away from Spirit.

In retaliation, Poltergeist quickly leapt onto the mostly peaceful dragon and tackled him to the floor as Spirit decided to body slam the two.

"Enough!" A strained, malevolent voice yelled.

All mechs and femmes rose to their feet with Ghost having Poltergeist stuck in a choke hold.

Tigressa came into view with a deep frown sketched in her monstrous face, "Now, why didn't any of you do what I said? Is it that my requests are too much…or are you too weak to achieve them?!"

No one uttered a word, with the exception of the green and black dragon who was still struggling to breathe. Phantasmos twiddled his thumbs while his friends had their hands on their chins.

"Nobody? Alright then, let's move to a different subject then. Why is it that an animal contacted me earlier and said that someone has betrayed us?" She hissed as she paced in front of her throne.

"Luckily for whoever that was, the animal didn't reveal your name and whatever you told the enemy is also safe…for now. When I find out who did this, their organs will DECORATE these caverns like Christmas ornaments and their head will be a new TROPHY while the rest of their body parts will be FED TO THE METAL HEADS! Do all of you understand?!"

All of them nodded with fear after they saw her hand movements as she emphasized certain words. No one wanted to be on the receiving end of her anger right now nor did they want to get blamed for the mutiny that someone else "might have done".

Poltergeist finally fainted from the choke hold and Spirit just dropped him from where he once stood, not even bothering to move him to his sleeping chambers.

Spike poked his unconscious form with curiosity and grinned evilly at his seeker friend, Draco.

* * *

Optimus entered all the information each group provided with their encounters. It was truly obvious now that none of Tigressa's siblings really wanted to help her, but some also didn't like their species in general.

The Autobot leader peered across the room at all the bots that seemed neck-deep in conversations with each other.

Ratchet was conversing with Shockwave and a slightly annoyed Knockout who was complaining about the raccoon-like femme's damage upon his team.

Megatron and Arcee, of course, seemed only interested in each other at the moment. They both began to laugh as the warlord apparently said something funny.

Soundwave, the Wreckers, Breakdown, and Predaking only yapped about their adventures and exaggerated some of the story to make it more interesting.

Bumblebee, Smokescreen, Dreadwing, and Starscream were doing the same thing but each tried to compete with the others on whose was better.

Optimus smiled to himself and turned back to his entries, only to pause as a hand was placed on his shoulder.

"Optimus, is something wrong?" Megatron asked.

"No old friend, there is nothing wrong. But I have a thought on how we can solve this new puzzle our enemies have put forth. If we can gain their trust and use their abilities again Tigressa, we might be able to defeat her as well as convert her siblings to join us."

Megatron raised a brow, "Well, even if that does work, what about the Metal Heads? It's not like they'll just disappear; they need a leader to control them otherwise they'll attack anything that gets in their way like savages."

Optimus frowned slightly, "Indeed. Perhaps not only can we convince the elemental beings to help us but we could also find a way to control Tigressa herself. If we were to present a challenge for her that if she fails, she'll be bound to our commands, then she'll have no choice but to co-exist with us and follow what we request."

The warlord rolled his eyes in disbelief, "Alright, fine! But if this screws us over, I will be kicking your ass for all eternity in the Well of Allsparks!"

Optimus chuckled as Megatron mumbled something about death.

"I mean it too, Optimus!" He yelled again as he made his way back to Arcee who sat happily on one of the control panels.


End file.
